Sunday, March 31, 2013

It was a lovely holiday today. A relaxing morning and then an afternoon at Lil' Guy's house for more celebrating! I hope you all had a lovely day too.

(she really did have a fancy Easter basket, but left it at home filled with eggs from a different egg hunt. promise.)

The Easter Bunny brought a fun new game, Beat The Parents. And they did. Well, they beat the auntie.

Tomorrow we'll do some type of adventuring if it doesn't rain to celebrate Lil' Guy turning 6! Seriously, 6 years old?!?!

Oh, and an Easter treat for you guys. I just released my new design, Blue Lake Springs Shawlette, and it is on sale for $4.50 through April 8, 2013.

A proper post about it to come later this week, but I wanted to be sure to let those of you who've been waiting for it to know it was available!

Time for bed now as those kids will be up early.....

Happy Easter!xoxo Irishgirlieknits

p.s. You know I'm a huge fan of women's college basketball, and especially Notre Dame and Skylar Diggins, who are on their way to the Elite 8 after a win this morning and hopefully the final four like last year. They lost to Baylor and the amazing Brittney Griner last year in the championship game, so I can't help but say how thrilled we were to see Baylor lose tonight!! (ok, a bit sad for Brittney) We watched the last two minutes of the game....so exciting!! So this week will be all about the Irish!!!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

There has been lots of happy this week! I almost feel like I'm getting everything balanced again...work, exercise, cooking and eating right, family, knitting.... Highlights from this week include:

lounging in the sun doggies

another Good Eggs delivery, which turned into an amazing frittata made from the eggs, goat cheese with chives, green onions and asparagus that was in my delivery

unexpected, lovely spring flowers

a long walk earlier in the week and an awesome swim this afternoon!! Yay!! Back on track!

leftover rotisserie chicken from my delivery turned into tonight's yummy dinner of Chicken Pot Pie from my new favorite cookbook, Homemade with Love. An absolutely perfect review and the recipe can be found here. I may have just done the full drop biscuit recipe to make a few extras and "extra" cover the pot pie :) If you aren't reading In Jennie's Kitchen blog, you really are missing out. I made this tonight because I knew that dad would LOVE this and since I've never made it for him, I surprised him with it tonight. Everyone loved it! I can't wait to try more recipes from this cookbook....I'll be sure to tell you guys about them. Oh, and the drop biscuits. SO easy and to die for.

Happy Easter!! We'll be headed up to Folsom to celebrate with Lil' Guy and then we'll do something fun on Monday while he and Lil' Snowboarder are on spring break. Auntie fun!!!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

I'm definitely one who can work well under pressure most of the time, and I think that may be why I find myself waiting until the last minute to start certain deadline projects. I think I'm also a glass half-full kind of gal because technically someone could observe my behavior and say I'm good at procrastinating. Ha! I'm going with working well under pressure.

Saturday morning status, BMFA STR, colorway Peek-a-boo Peony

So this week's deadline...was it a super secret project? Nope. New design? Nope. It was a baby shower for a dear co-worker. There's a group of us at work who've worked together for over 10 years and I just couldn't not knit something for the baby.

Here it is this morning, still drying a bit before the shower at lunch. Down to the wire, that's me. I've been enjoying the stitch pattern on my new infinity scarf design, so I thought I'd try it with a variegated yarn in the baby sweater.

I love the texture here, but for the baby sweater, I'm not sure it was what I had in mind. I'm going to think on it a bit. That's the fun part with knitting this....perfect for a gift and a chance to play around with a potential new design.

The mommy-to-be loved the sweater and especially loved the washing instructions on the Knitterellagift tag. The best thing she said though was that baby Penelope would now have two IGK handknits to wear, since I knit her older daughter this. She then said, "Don't worry. Her sister will get hers back when she is older, and now Penelope will have her own when she is older." She's already thinking baby heirlooms. Now you can see why I knit for her, right?

Even with a last minute deadline :)

Happy Knitting!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

P.S. As with any deadline knitting, there was some marathon tv watching that helped get this project done. This baby knit brought to you by catching up on Law and Order SVU, a new series on the Sundance channel called Top of the Lake, and Wallander (on amazon prime). A bit macabre for baby knits, but hey, whatever works.

Friday, March 22, 2013

a lovely morning with Debbi, enjoying DavidsTea, a cupcake and catching up

taking the doggies on an "adventure" on the busy main street of one of our neighborhoods; they did quite well with all the attention

Puddles plopped down right in the middle of the sidewalk as if she owned the place and everyone just stopped to pet her

that soda bread really was delicious. I might need to make more this weeekend.

reading all of your kind thoughts about Shadow. Thank you.

March Madness!! Go Irish!!

This was an emotional week, an up and down emotional week, for a variety of reasons. I guess this is why the 52 weeks of happiness project is there. It really is one of those weeks where it is important to focus on the happy. I hope you guys are too. I'd love to hear about the happy in your lives.

And it is just about Friday. Now that is another reason for the happy!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Some sad news tonight. My brother called to tell us that Shadow passed away. She'd been suffering from cancer the past few months. Everyone is heartbroken, especially since we just saw her last weekend and she seemed to be responding to the chemo and doing well. She was such a good dog.

This is probably one of my favorites. Pa always let Shadow up on his chair. A special treat she only got when she was here. She knew right away that there was a spot for her.

This was naive IGK back in the day, thinking I could walk 3 dogs and push a stroller. Ha. I learned quickly.

This was Shadow and Lil' Guy at New Years Eve.

Shadow is going to be missed so much. I know for my dear sister in law, her morning runs just aren't going to be the same without her.

Dogs leave paw prints on our hearts and forever change our lives.

We'll miss you Shadow! I know you are on the Rainbow Bridge though :)
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

Twas a grand day celebrating St. Patrick's Day. I mean, how else can you explain a 9-year-old singing the lyrics to Wild Rover at the top of her lungs....

I've been a wild rover for many's the year
I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer
But now I'm returning with gold in great store
And I never will play the wild rover no more
And it's No, Nay, never,
No, nay never no more
Will I play the wild rover,
No never no more

Yes, whiskey and beer....oh goodness!
Our day started off with green pancakes, and then dinner was delish!! Pa got a big new pot for all the corned beef he was making.

It may not look pretty in there, but goodness, so yummy!

My sister made her Irish soda bread (yes, extra raisins). A simple meal, but one my family has been enjoying for years. Filled with so many happy memories. I love hearing my dad talk about my Goggy and how he liked his soda bread (or in some cases, from a certain bakery, how it was hard as a rock and you could only eat it if you dipped it in your tea). I know Mimi and Cotty loved my sister's soda bread.

And thank you guys so much for supporting my IGK BOGO free pattern sale!! It has been a great success and you still have one more day (sale through Monday, March 18, 11:59pm PST). You know, in case you were partying too hard yesterday and missed it :)

Buy one pattern, get one free (lesser priced pattern will be free; Merrily and Sleepy Hollow Collections included, but other ebook collections excluded)!

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry Shop (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA).

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be purchased in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6...) at a time.
If you can't decide, well, may I suggest Naylor Street as the perfect pattern for the entire family. I just love that Erica sent me this picture of Padraig and her mom in the Naylor St. hat she knit him. So fun!

Isn't he the cutest?!?!?! His 1st St. Patrick's Day! Yes, he's in a pub :) Check out Erica's post for their fabulous week of St. Patrick's Day fun. As much as I love our relaxed holiday today, I may just have to visit Erica for her St. Patrick's Day traditions!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Today will be all about family, food, toe-tapping music, and everything Irish! And of course, the annual IGK BOGO sale (details below!). But first up.....some of my faves...

I spent most of Saturday working on a new infinity scarf design. I made quite a bit of progress while watching a new series on amazon prime, Single Handed, a Law and Order meets the west coast of Ireland. Love it!! Don't you like my new Knitifacts clover stitch marker? I love these ones too.

A great week for Notre Dame women's basketball team, Big East Champs!! So proud of Skylar Diggins!

The doggies are ready :)

And of course, the 3rd Annual Irish Girlie Knits BOGO Sale through March 18! Because I love you guys and figure some of you may be partying too much today to see this...so you have through Monday :)

Buy one pattern, get one free (lesser priced pattern will be free; Merrily and Sleepy Hollow Collections included, but other ebook collections excluded)!

Only includes patterns published by Irish Girlie Knits Designs in my Ravelry Shop (e.g., does not include patterns published by Kollage Yarns, BMFA).

Discount can be used more than once, but patterns must be purchased in multiples of 2 (e.g., 2, 4, 6...) at a time. I really wish my Sleepy Hollow Breakfast Blend sock pattern was ready for the sale, but I'm writing it up this weekend to get to my fabulous test knitter.

Isn't it pretty in the lovely oatmeal colorway? I promise to have a special sale price for you guys when it is ready! And name...should I just stick with Sleepy Hollow sock? Still haven't come up with anything else. Thoughts??

We will definitley be watching Darby O'Gill and the Little People today. How about you? Any favorite things you will be doing today?

Thanks for tolerating all the videos! My dad and sister love just going through the songs all in one place. Trust me, I resisted a few others from last year and the year before :)

Have a fabulous day and Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Everyone is a bit Irish today :)
xoxo Irishgirlieknits

finding Lil' Snowboarder using my new swatch as part of her Monster High play set :) She looks up with a sheepish grin and says, "I cut the ends off. Doesn't it look cute?" Love her.

a spot of tea and Irish Soda Bread. Top of the mornin' to ya!

listening to Irish music all week puts a smile on my face

Oh, and a special sale started early....check out the IGK group for details or come back here tomorrow. I hope you've had a week filled with happy! Anything in particular? Any happy plans for the weekend? I hope so.